I hope you enjoy this very short story called “Clean Slate.” It was written for the “Three Minute Fiction” contest by National Public Radio. It was a lot of fun to write. Remember, any likeness to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.

The Mensa Bulletin (national magazine for members of Mensa) reviewed the book Colors by Jay Magidson in their March 2013 issue. Now come on, how cool is that! If it’s good enough for Mensa, don’t you think you should get a copy too!

In the Image of God is now available on Amazon in print and kindle versions. This was a long ride. I began writing the book about 14 years ago. It has gone through many edits and changes. Here it is, released to the world. Fly little birdie, fly.

In the Image of God

I want to give a special thank you to my family for their support through the process – I love you.

Here is the description from the back of the book:

The year is 2080 and the world is crowded. To feed the nearly 17 billion, the earth has been divided into agriculture or city. There is no in between, no margin for error in this high-tech world. Farms are ultra-efficient enterprises using the latest engineered crops, enormous plants manipulated to grow in any season and produce fantastic yields. Cities are dense and overcrowded, stuffed with men and women working endless hours to pay for their needs. Their only relief is Virtual Reality – a synthetic world where any fantasy is possible – where a person can look like anyone, be anywhere. It is no wonder people spend every waking hour “jacked in” to this imaginary world.

Access to Virtual Reality is controlled by one company, owned by one man. Tatsuo Hamachi has accumulated vast wealth, but his desire for power is greater. Now, he has discovered a way to connect human minds directly, without the need of Virtual Reality headsets, where thoughts can flow as easily as electricity through a wire. When every human mind is connected – he stands to be leader of them all.

There are a few who have rejected technology for a simpler life. Their only desire is to be left in peace. When Alvar, their leader, becomes an unwilling guinea pig for Hamachi’s experiments, he must fight not only for his own mind, but those of the entire world.

Nine Colors – Nine Chances
After a bitter fight with his girlfriend, Paul finds himself lost in a strange part of the city, broke, and alone at night in the freezing rain. Suddenly he discovers an open restaurant which wasn’t there a moment before. Paul’s long night is about to get a lot longer, and a lot stranger. To return home, he must journey through nine separate colors, nine separate realities – or be lost forever.

Jay Magidson has woven 9 short stories into a surreal journey of discovery and realization; a place where reality mixes with imagination. If you ever thought life couldn’t get any stranger – think again.